vendredi 28 novembre 2014

Blog post: Crimean Russia snippet [eng]

November 2014

"We
are very concerned with the militarisation of Crimea," NATO top general
Breedlove said, following his recent meetings with Kiev. [1] Either NATO is very slow on the uptake, or
playing dumb at it suits it, because the Russian MOD has planned the deployment
of military units for well over 6 months, and it is only in late Nov, that
NATOexpressed grave ‘concerns’ over this.This is what they‘d like you & I to think,
to try to keep the public afraid of the Russian bear, especially keeping the
tensions as high as they are.Lost in
this smoke of subterfuge is a complex reality picture, not as sinister as NATO
or the dumb MSN press would like to make it out to be.

The militarization
of Crimea y Russia has been on the agenda for a short while now, however, this probably
does not compare to the length of time that NATO probably had its eyes on
Crimea for a number of years itself, as a strategically valuable military
location. (See this related article for a glimpse of prior US military behavior in the peninsula).When it comes to NATO being sly, you will not have any public messages
to this effect.NATO itself has
steadily crept up to almost Russia’s borders since the end of the Cold War.
What was Russia supposed to have done in response for the last 15 years or so? Yet
there are moments such as this, US dialogue on NATO, which turns reality on its head.This
is precisely the bubble that NATO lives in.

You could
say that the Russian had an unexpected burden with regards to Crimea, as the
turn of events were so quick & dramatic in March & April. The Russian MOD had not forecasted getting tens
of thousands of ex Ukrainian military personnel or Soviet era material, who
switched sides.Take for instance: “The fleet has also begun to restructure and
rearm its 475th Independent Electronic Warfare Center. All of the center’s
obsolete hardware (dating back to the Soviet era) will be replaced before the
end of 2014.”[2] So if this is what NATO includes in the militarization of
Crimea, it is not entirely a build-up of forces, but also a transformation from
a paper tiger into a real one. In reality it includes incorporating nearly the
entire existing Crimean ex-Ukrainian infrastructure & modernizing it, a military
half the size of US forces stationed in South Korea.The media stories of Russian planes flown in
are groundless without understanding part of the context for their deployment. Another
extract in an article written in September statesthat “The 43rd Aviation Regiment will
soon begin to replace its aircraft with new Su-30SM multirole fighters made
by the Irkut Corporation.”

With a
steady stream of visiting NATO warships coming & going in the Black Sea, along with a brutal conflict
still raging in the east of Ukraine, Russia cannot afford to keep its Black Sea
Fleet neglected. The Fleet’s upgrade prospects
changed drastically after the events in March, as previously, Ukrainian
governments have been extremely reluctant to allow the Russians to upgrade any of
their Sevastopol bases or equipment for over a decade. The change in fortune has meant the
Russian military has been steadily upgrading its infrastructure. [3] Russia will not leave anything to chance in these high risk days.

The Russian Black Sea Fleet will have a
sophisticated network of naval and airbases in Crimea following the region’s
reunification with Russia, the country's chief naval commander said
Tuesday.“The Black Sea Fleet will have a network of bases on the Crimean
Peninsula, including the main naval base in Sevastopol and other facilities,”
Admiral Viktor Chirkov said.“This infrastructure will be self-efficient
allowing us to place comfortably warships, submarines and coastal troops
[around the peninsula] with support of developed social infrastructure,” the
admiral said.According to Chirkov, Russia will deploy warships not only in
Sevastopol, but also in Feodosia and Donuzlav, while stationing combat aircraft
near Yevpatoria and in Belbek.